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Overview

Beijing berth beckons for duo

Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana will both secure their places at the
Men's Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing next year if they
win their matches in the penultimate round of African Zone
preliminaries at the weekend.

Ghana have a chance to become the first to book a trip to the
Far East when they host Nigeria in Accra on Friday, contributing
the latest chapter to a long-standing rivalry between the two west
African nations.

The Ivorians have never before been to a football competition at
the Olympic Games but have come from behind in their group to find
themselves now on the cusp of qualification.

The only team that can effectively catch them is the Zambian
side they host in Abidjan on Sunday. A win for the Ivorians will
see them secure top place in Group B with a last round of
qualifying matches to come in March.

A point to proveGhana's Black Meteors have a slender one-point lead over
their Nigerian rivals but must win this last game or face opening
the door for Nigeria to come back and win the group - and qualify
for Beijing.

Ghana have veteran coach Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, who has a
winning record on the continent as both player and coach, to lead
their charge towards another Olympic appearance. Attuquayefio has
picked his strongest possible side for Friday's encounter,
naming nine foreign-based players including recalls for Nana Akwasi
Asare and Emmanuel Boakye.

But key to his hopes will be the scoring ability of Asamoah
Gyan, who played for the senior side at last year's FIFA World
Cup™ finals in Germany, and France-based Michael Helegbe, who has
also been capped at full international level.

Nigeria still have a match at home against already-eliminated
South Africa in March and if they can force a draw in Accra, they
will be able to win the group in their last encounter. The group
initially had four teams but Ethiopia withdrew.

Nigeria's captain Promise Isaac, a former U-20 international
who plays at Genclerbirligi in Turkey, told reporters he believes
the Nigerian side is stronger than their Ghanaian counterparts in
all departments. "We have no other option but to win the game
and all my team-mates know that," he said.

Morocco seek favour
Cameroon, gold medal winners in Sydney in 2000,
have a tricky away tie away against Guinea in Conakry on Sunday,
where they want to preserve a one-point lead over Morocco in Group
C. Cameroon have assembled a formidable squad for the trip,
including players from clubs in England, France, Germany, Holland,
Portugal and from Iran, Indonesia and Tunisia.

Cameroon beat Guinea 6-1 in their opening group tie but are
unlikely to find the going that easy again. Morocco are still
hoping they will be able to turn around the situation in their
group, but need Guinea to do them a favour.

"If we beat Botswana and Cameroon don't get any points
against Guinea, then we'll be in pole position to win the group
in our last match," said Salah Sbai, the Belgian-based Moroccu
U-23 international who is likely to feature in the weekend's
game in Gaborone.

Morocco coach Fetih Jamal named three new players in his squad,
Yahia Iraqui from Raja Casablanca, Mehdi Zoubairi from Kawkab
Marrakesh and Houcine Hidaga from second division club Rachad
Bernoussi, who are have surprisingly reached the final of this
year's Morocco Throne Cup.

Botswana's Young Zebras still have a mathematical chance at
qualification but, even if they do not make it to Beijing, have
shown considerable improvement in getting this far in the
preliminary competition. The sparsely populated southern African
nation is not used to footballing success, but the team received
praise from the country's president Festus Mogae in his State
of the Nation address in Parliament last week.

Mogae said the side had "made history' by reaching the
group stage and were helping to boost the country's
international image. "There is a flowering of competitive
success," he added.